The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-01-06
EFFUSiVE POLITENESS. FOUND IN
hIGH-TONED SPANISH SOCIETY.

Use of Certain Initials a Letter
Envelope An Elusive Form vi
CorrespOndence-Extra Polite
Speeeh-GaIIantry on the Street.
I received letter few days ago from
Cuban. On the upper left hand corner
of the outside of the envelope were the
initials b. l.. 2. Now, any one who has
studied Spanish knows that B. L. P. n
B. L. NJ, in letter of extreme polite
ness and etiquette, are used at the close
of letter; but the use of these initials
on the envelope / hardly think is as
familiar to the general student of Span
ish. This is very usual, both here and in
Spain on letters of some ceremony, and it
is de rigueur on the envelopes of cere
mOnious notes, invitations, etc.
Ladies writing to gentlemen, or to each
other, or gentlemen writing to each other,
use B. L. M.-"Reso las manos'' Il kiss
the hands, Gentlemen writing to la
dies use b. L. P.--"BesO las pies'' q kiss
the feet. The compliment, of course,
for the hands and feet of the party writ
ten to. The many expressions Of friend
ship, respect, ETC., used at the close of the
Spanish letter are not sufficient without
the usual B. l.. NJ. or B. l.. p. The fol
lowing ELUSIVE form is much used in writ
ing ito a person even of very slight &C
quaintance: "With the sincereSt profess
SionS c sympathy and friendship from
her affectiOnate servant, who B. L. =. ~
(kisses her feet, etc. To use one set of
initials for the other shows a great ignOr-
ance Of the etiQuettes and cOnveniences
of. society. A Cuban lady of my ac-
received on her fete day the
usual Compliment of visiting card
under cover from gentleman. On
looking at the envelope she threw up her
head with a jerk and remarked that
zone could easily see that that man did
not know anything, or he never would
have put B. L. NJ, instead of B. l.. p,
on an envelope sent to a lady.
a MATTER OF SPANISH TASTE.
must acknowledge that l could not
appreciate the nice difference. But after
all on reflection there certainly is some
difference between B. l.. NJ. and B. l..
P, and it is only a matter of Spanish
taste which is the most agreeable pro-
ceeding
This is only one of the very little polite
nOthings of this very polite people.
On being presented to a stranger-if
lady-instead of the usual bow, more OK
less gracious, of our country, there is q
cordial shake of the hand, accompanied
by an extravagantly polite speech ex-
pressing the very great happiness this
meeting has caused, ending with an
offer to you from the lady of her house,
which is, in other words, an invitation
for you to visit her. A single man goes
through the same style of compliments.
speech and concludes by telling you that
he lives at such Il number in such
street, and begs that if you need his ser
vices you will call on him.
Whether sincere or not, these little po
lite forms are the f1owery adornments Of
speech, and help to make up the refine
ments and illusions of life, more or less
agreeable according to the view one
takes of them. What would be received
by an American woman as an impertin-
ence is received by Cuban with gra-
cious smile and a "gracias, said in a
most pleasant tone of voice, as, for in
stance, OF being helped into her carriage
by man who is complete stranger to
her. If a gentleman is passing on the
street when a lady is about to enter her
carriage-if no gentleman is with her
he hands her into her carriage. This is
considered here only what man who is
a gentleman would do under such cir
cumstances. Compliments are sometimes
paid by gentlemen to ladies on the street,
but are considered bad style. Cuba
Cor. New Orleans Times Democrat.